Record-breaking 20,000 Turn Out to Celebrate Sun God Festival
Christine Clark | May 18, 2009
A record-breaking 20,000 students celebrated on RIMAC field until midnight this year, roughly 2,000 more than attended the event last year. (Photo / Erik Jepsen, UCSD Guardian)
A raucous comedy skit by comedians Rob Huebel and Horatio Sanz of “Saturday Night Live” fame and an exhilarating performance by N.E.R.D. were two of many highlights of UC San Diego’s Sun God Festival Friday.
The festival is one of the most anticipated events of the year for students, but this year’s headliners, diverse entertainment acts, and pre-Sun God publicity gave the festival an unprecedented amount of buzz. A record-breaking 20,000 students celebrated on RIMAC field until midnight this year, roughly 2,000 more than attended the event last year.
This year’s student-run Sun God Festival also upped the decibels with an expanded midway stage at RIMAC field that featured hot new acts such as Cirque Bezerk and Upright Citizens Brigade. A huge dance tent was hopping as early as 2 p.m. “The dance tent was an awesome idea,” said sophomore Buzz Bloomfield. “I can hear the bass from across campus. This is very Coachella-esque.”
Gary Ratcliff, assistant vice chancellor of Student Life said that, overall, Sun God is a positive experience for students and campus spirit. “This is one of the longest-standing traditions at UC San Diego and it has the largest turnout of any of our traditions,” he said. “This is the event that students look forward to the most and every student remembers the Sun God events that they attended.”
The lines stretched across campus for entry into Sun God Festival 2009. (Photo / Megan O'Connor)
The excitement around the event started early as a race to find baby Sun God keepsakes swept the campus in the weeks leading up to the event. Hundreds of students searched for the hidden baby Sun Gods after receiving clues of their whereabouts from Twitter updates published by the Associated Students (AS).
In addition, “nooner” concerts were held in the Price Center throughout the week, featuring popular local artists such as Lady Dottie and the Diamonds and Rob Crow of Pinback.
Graduate student Mehrdad Yazdani took a break from classes to listen to Crow. “The ‘nooner’ concerts were pretty good,” he said. “There are some genuine hipsters on A.S.” Students were able to get their hands on festival merchandise at the Sun God shop, where they were given a free compilation of music from the concert’s performers with every purchase.
The lineup for Friday’s performances included a slew of popular bands, such as N.E.R.D., Iron and Wine, and Girl Talk. “I’m so proud of this year’s lineup,” said A.S, Associate Vice President of Concerts and Events Garrett Berg. “With planning a large-scale festival, it’s pretty hard to please everyone especially on a campus as diverse for UC San Diego, but we think we came pretty close this year.”
Stilt walkers from Cirque Berzerk paraded the Sun God Lawn during the music festival.
The event kicked off with a performance at the main stage from the Theory of Funkativity, the student group who won the Sun God “Battle of the Bands.” Other entertainment acts at the midway stage and dance tent also attracted hundreds of students. Rob Huebel and Horatio Sanz performed in a racy comedy skit with fellow comedian Seth Morris. “The show is pretty funny,” said Emma Nielsen, a senior at Berkeley High school in Berkeley, Calif. “My best friend’s brother goes here, so we decided to make the trip down for this show. We saw the website and thought it looked amazing.”
Berg said organizers made changes to the concert after students expressed concern last year when Sun God was moved to RIMAC field. “We pretty much started planning the day after Sun God 2008,” he said. “We made it so students can leave and re-enter. The celebration was also expanded to a week-long event with the ‘nooners’ so that Sun God maintains a campus-wide feel.”
In an effort to go green, concert organizers gave out free water refills to students who brought in their own water bottles.
Several attendees agreed that this year’s festival was more successful than last year’s. “There were a lot of improvements, namely the music,” said junior Nicole Aquino. Students swarmed RIMAC field as the popular hip-hop act, N.E.R.D took the main stage and the festival’s other headliner, Girl Talk, had the audience dancing in until 11 p.m., despite temperatures in the low 60s. During Girl Talk’s performance, students cheered when the DJ said Sun God was the best college festival he had ever seen. Other popular shows included a sultry performance from local favorite, Grand Ole Party.
Also a part this year’s extravaganza, The Loft had a presence on the RIMAC field with a series of interactive booths, multimedia instillations, and artistic displays.
“I look forward to this event all year,” said UC San Diego junior Kang Vo. “It’s one of our most exciting traditions.”
(Photos / Erik Jepsen, UCSD Guardian)
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